Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The Postal Service is an equal opportunity employer...

...of nutjobs, apparently.

In a twist on the usual script, the disgruntled ex-postal employee who showed up at work and aired out some grievances (and some former co-workers) was a woman. Odd, as we usually prefer to assassinate someone's character, rather than the actual someone, but California is a thoroughly modern state, after all. When reading the story, I had my predictable, visceral first reaction of "Why didn't somebody just shoot her?" followed by my equally predictable second reaction of "Oh yeah, it was a Post Office. In California. No guns allowed. Except for psychos."

Anyhow, after getting all empowered, she apparently Did The Right Thing in the end and saved the state the cost of a trial, via a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (Note to potential emulators: If you want to kill yourself, please just nip off into the woods quietly and smoke that gun barrel alone. Don't drag all these other people into the scenario with you, okay? And do it in the woods to save us the inevitable carpet cleaning bills. Thanks.)

There's a poll up at the story on AOL, asking if you've "ever feared a co-worker would commit workplace violence". Despite working someplace where everybody packs heat and there are machine guns hanging on the walls, I had to answer "no" to that one. Maybe I'd have had to answer differently if I was a unionized government employee working in a victim disarmament zone...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

One account said:
"They also said they did not know if the firearm she used was registered."

Some people worry about the damnedest things...

Josh said...

So, if she was carrying an illegal firearm in an illegal manner into a prohibited location, we need more gun control, right? :\

Ziiiiiing!! said...

"Effers quietly raised the rates on all of us, the gal just knew where to get her revenge". - As good an explanation as we're likely to get.

bobg, last I bought a firearm in CA there was no registration.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I think whether the firearm is registered or not is a non-issue; what does it matter? I just don't see why it is deemed important, other than to gun-grabbers.
I doubt if the victims care whether the gun was registered or not...

NotClauswitz said...

Here in CA there is no registration for firearms, even pistols. There's some other crap and an FFL for every transaction, but not registration. "Registration" is a word the gun-grabbers repeat over and over as a mantra, it's their Holy Grail and equally a fantasy realm with fluffy bunnies and chocolate rivers.

Reid Farmer said...

According to the news here in Goleta (I work about a mile away from where this happened) she had been living in Grants, New Mexico for quite some time before she came back and did what she did. California gun regs probably don't have anything to do with her acquiring the pistol. Accounts from her neighbors here said she was a seriously disturbed person who walked around muttering to herself. Very sad.